LINGUIST List 15.1336

Wed Apr 28 2004

Confs: General Linguistics/G�teborg, Sweden

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IT Support for Small Languages
Date: 09-Jun-2004 - 10-Jun-2004
Location: G�teborg, Sweden
Contact: Lars Borin
Contact Email: lars.borinsvenska.gu.se
Meeting URL: http://svenska.gu.se/~svelb/ALLC-ACH-04/
Linguistic Sub-field: General Linguistics
Meeting Description:
IT support for small languages
a tutorial in conjunction with the
ALLC/ACH conference
G�teborg, Sweden, 9-10 June, 2004
http://svenska.gu.se/~svelb/ALLC-ACH-04/
The world's linguistic diversity is decreasing at an alarming
rate. Even according to the most optimistic predictions, one fourth of
the world's languages will be gone by the end of this century, unless
we can do something to reverse this trend. A language is a reflection
of the community that speaks it. When the language dies, not only the
linguistic knowledge itself is lost, but also the unique philosophy
and world-view of its people, embodied in the language, and, indeed,
inseparable from it.
Threatened language communities and linguists alike are becoming
increasingly aware of this development, and increasingly concerned
about it. In this connection, modern information and communication
technologies can potentially be of enormous help. We can see many ways
in which digital recording and storage technologies, the internet,
multimedia, e-learning, corpus linguistics, language technology and
other kinds of IT could be employed in support of small and threatened
language communities.
The aim of this two-day tutorial on IT support for small languages is
to provide an up-to-date overview of this important area. It will
cover topics such as
- Uses of IT in support of small languages (general
documentation/resource creation, revitalization, teaching/learning,
status raising, etc.)
- Digital documentation of (small) languages:
- - general
- - modalities (writing, speech, video, etc.)
- - resource types (corpora, lexicons, etc.)
- - standards, formats
- - intellectual property rights and ethical issues
- Language technology for language support
- Community-related multimedia products
Organizers:
Professor Peter Austin
M�rit Rausing Chair in Field Linguistics,
Director: Endangered Languages Academic Programme,
School of Oriental and African Studies, UK
http://www.hrelp.org/acad_staff_pa.htm
Professor Lars Borin
Chair in Natural Language Processing,
Director: Bank of Swedish,
G�teborg University, Sweden
http://svenska.gu.se/~svelb/
Practical details:
You register for the tutorial using the main ALLC/ACH conference
registration form, found here: http://www.hum.gu.se/allcach2004/Reg/
. The tutorial fee is 625 SEK (incl VAT) (about 70 Euro), which
includes lunch and coffee/tea. Note that it is possible to register
only for the tutorial; you don't need to register for the main
conference.
The tutorial webpage: http://svenska.gu.se/~svelb/ALLC-ACH-04/
The ALLC/ACH conference website: http://www.hum.gu.se/allcach2004/
In case you have questions, please contact Lars Borin
lars.borinsvenska.gu.se